Friday 29 July 2011

Another Day, Another Reducing in Value, Dollar

So, in 2001 I had surgery to my brachial plexus that left my right arm paralysed. Its been in a sling ever since, but here is the weird part; for about the past two years, my arm has been moving. When I say moving, I mean twitching and stretching and tensing until ity feels it'll snap. I have no control over it, but when I tell people that its paralysed, I can see the look in their eyes, the one that says "you're a big fat liar, go and get a job"|. In winter its worse, cos I wear a big coat and zip my arm inside it. It looks as if I'm smuggling a puppy about. Or an alien, like in the film, erm, Alien. Anyway, for now, all day every day my arm churns and writhes, and no-one knows why. I had Botox to try and stop it, but it didn't work. One consultant offered amputation, (really), and was surprised when I declined.  So it seems, unless some brilliant doctor reads this blog, I'm stuck with this for the time being. I can't imagine what Dave the Rave will think when I go for my assesssment...

Thursday 28 July 2011

And I Think to Myself, What a Wonderful World

Oh the ironry. I don't know if Sachmo wrote it or just sang it, but either way,  he was way off the mark. It might be a beautiful world, but wonderful it ain't. Especially here in the UK with Cameron and his loyal Puppy at the helm.
Forget for a moment the horrors currently being suffered by millions in the Horn of Africa, (a woman binds her stomach with rope so the hunger pangs aren't so painful??). Don't think of the misery endured by hundreds of thousands in Afghanistan, (a knock on effect of the illegal war in Iraq). And put out of your mind the abject fear of those young people in Norway. Just concentrate on some of the things going on here, right now, and its enough to make you weep.
Being disabled, I get Disability Living Allowance. I also get Incapacity Benefit. Only having one arm makes me somewhat incapacitated. As does the fused spine, the osteoporosis, the exhaustion from such a high dose of morphine and lack of sleep at night, which is caused by the night terrors, which is caused by the morphine. You get the picture?  Well, I'm glad you do, cos 'they' sure as hell don't. With the Daily Express fully convinced that  scroungers such as me should pull my sleeve up and go and get a job, and the gruesome twosome (yes Dave the Rave and your pup, I mean you) hell-bent on reforming the benefit system, I'm (and by I, I mean me and hundreds of thousands of others) are left to fill out endless forms YET AGAIN to see whether we are entitled to our benefits, or simply swinging the lead.
Maybe insted of these witch hunts they should concentrate on the tax-fraudsters, who cost the country tens of times more than benefit cheats. Maybe, they should believe our doctors, when they say someone is ill. Maybe they should stop hounding the poor, and instead look at a way to make life less stressful for those of us who are already vulnerable, stressed, depressed and ill. I did not chose to have nf. If I'd been healthy, I'd have continued in my career as a nurse, and contributed tax and national insurance. But I'm not, and I didn't, and now, as well as not sleeping because of the pain and the night terrors, I'm not sleeping because our 'wonderful' government are determined to stop my benefits and send me to work. Maybe they should try sending the Royal Family out to do some proper work, instead of making the weakest in society feel guilty for being ill.